Navy V-12

By Henry C. Herge

A history of the Navy V-12 Program during World War II. The Program provided opportunities for young men whose families had suffered during the difficult times of the Great Depression. These high school graduates were offered the golden opportunity to attend colleges and universities. At the end of the program, more than 60,000 U.S. Navy and USMC officers had entered the armed forces for the war. Many, also entered the U.S. Naval Reserve in the post-ear period, and served in Korea and Vietnam. With photos -- 80+ pages of biographies of individual members of the program. Many include photos then and now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Jun 1, 1996
• ISBN: 9781681621579

Book preview

Company-G, Navy V-12 Unit, University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame, IN, July 31. 1944. Company Commander: G.A. Bender. (Courtesy of Bernard J. Freed)

NAVI

V-12

TURNER PUBLISHING COMPANY

TURNER PUBLISHING COMPANY

Copyright © 1996

Turner Publishing Company.

All rights reserved.

Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company

This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of Turner Publishing Company.

Turner Publishing Company Staff:

Chief Editor: Robert J. Martin

Designer: Lora Ann Lauder

Library of Congress

Catalog Card Number: 95-60331

ISBN: 978-1-56311-189-1

Additional copies may be purchased directly from Turner Publishing Company.

This publication was compiled using available information. The publisher regrets it cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.

Photo: EX Fraternity Wabash College 1944-45. (Courtesy of William Thompson)

Table of Contents

Frontispiece

Publisher’s Message

Preface

Acknowledgments

Dedication And In Respectful Tribute to Arthur Stanton Adams

Foreword

Prologue

A Tribute to Navy V-12 Trainees Of World War II

Chronology Pathway To Global War

Chapter I Designing The Role For American Colleges

Chapter II Inception of Navy College Training Programs

Chapter III New But Much Different

Chapter IV Mobilizing For Total War

Chapter V How Blacks Became Naval Officers

Navy V-12 Bulletins - The Program’s Bible

U.S. Navy Phraseology

Addendum

Bibliography

Appendix A Navy V-12 Production Records

Appendix B Outline of Curricula, Navy V-12 Program - Regular Students

Appendix C List of Naval District Officers

Appendix D Navy V-12 and NROTC Units

Appendix E Summary of Navy V-12 Enrollment by Trainee Types

Special Stories

Biographies

Index

Frontispiece

The person to whom I am most grateful for maintaining my interest in collecting data and information on the World War II U.S. Navy V-12 Program is my wife, Alice. Since my retirement in 1975, she knew of my desire to write a chronicle with its primary focus on Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where I served as the Commanding Officer of its V-12 Unit.

Accordingly, on three separate occasions, we scoured the archives in search of information at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky; Dartmouth College. Hanover, New Hampshire; and Wesleyan University. Pertinent information to my own file of data motivated my writing, with Alice offering constructive criticism as she typed the manuscript.

Upon completion, my manuscript was submitted to the editor of The Press at Wesleyan University, entitled. Wesleyan University in World War II-A Cooperative Venture in Education. After much waiting. I was informed in a terse note: "The University Press is closed."

So, much of Part I in my Wesleyan manuscript has been adapted for inclusion in this publication. Henry C. Herge, Sr.

Preface

In late June 1945, it was a distinct pleasure for me to inform Dr. Alonzo G. Grace, Connecticut Commissioner of Education, of my affirmative response to his offer of the associate directorship of a study, Implications of the Armed Services Educational Programs, to be sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE), Washington, DC, and funded jointly by the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations.*

Highly honored by Dr. Grace’s offer, I doubted seriously whether I might be released from active duty as the Commanding Officer of Wesleyan University’s Navy V-12 Unit, which was still in full operation. Nevertheless, I initiated the request for release from active duty in order to join the ACE staff by September 1, 1945.

I was aware of the very important role played by the ACE in the early policy and decision-making process pertaining to the utilizations of colleges as contract institutions for training officer personnel. So, I remained hopeful and waited.

My release from active duty was approved by Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Accordingly, I was granted terminal leave authorizing my replacement to report to Wesleyan University for the change of command.

In the period September 1, 1943 to December 24, 1945, it was my good fortune to visit 14 institutions in which Armed Services Training Units were operative. Thus, I was able to glean valuable data, information and literature for subsequent use in the ACE Commission Staff studies.

Also, while on active duty, but prior to the ACE Commission appointment, I was a recipient of temporary duty orders from the Director of Training, Third Naval District, to attend inspections of Navy V-12 Units. In all, there were four such inspections during my tenure as a Commanding Officer that were fruitful also for acquiring valuable information of Navy programs-in-action.

The combination of these experiences enabled me to prepare an ACE staff document, No. 10, entitled, The War and Higher Education, for the Commission members.

Now, more than five decades later, this nation stands much indebted to the Armed Services and the 131 contract colleges that participated in the preparation of highly qualified civilian youths, together with a large contingent of carefully selected enlistees from the Fleet and Marine Corps, that produced college-educated officer candidates for the Navy and Marine Corps.

The V-12 Program provided young men who grew up in the nation’s severest depression with a new vision, especially those high school graduates who, at age 18, saw little hope of ever going to college.

When the V-12 Program terminated oin June 30, 1946 (page 363, Navy V-12 Leadership for a Lifetime by James Schneider), it had produced more than 60,000 Navy and Marine Corps officers. Today, records show that many trainees remained on active duty and became the highest ranking officers while others in civilian life, during the post-war period, achieved national prominence in business, industry and government.

In boastful pride, trainee alumni can point today to their success in being selected for admission to the Navy V-12 Program in April 1943. The nationwide qualifying examination was taken by 60 percent of all young men in the draft age category, which had been lowered to age 18. While 125,000 were in the V-12 program, only 117,295 passed the first national test and selected the Navy. An additional 10,000 came from the Fleet and active Marine corps.

In tribute to those trainees who became commissioned officers and saw action in the Fleet from Normandy to Saipan, Iwo Jima or Okinawa, or the Pentagon, and to those who made a career in the Navy and Marine Corps - High Praise! It is likewise appropriate that the V-12ers who stayed in the U.S. Naval Reserve in the post-war period deserve acclaim, inasmuch as many were called up for fighting in Vietnam while still others fought in Korea if they had become U.S. Navy Reserves. Henry C. Herge, Sr.

Endnote:

* The Commission on Implications of Armed Services Educational Programs began its work in July 1945. It undertook to identify features of the wartime training and educational programs worthy of adaptation and experimentation in peacetime civilian education of any and all types and levels. It also undertook to make available to the public well-considered answers to the questions: What should education in America gain from the experience of the vast wartime training efforts? What are the implications for education and the national culture and strength, now and in the future?

Acknowledgments

The Commission on Implications of Armed Services Educational Programs began its comprehensive studies in July 1945. Subsequently, the Commission published 10 separate studies before it terminated in 1949.

One of these studies was focused primarily on the U.S. Navy V-12 Program:*

Part I of this study was strictly my authorship. It focused primarily on Navy contract training programs in colleges and universities during World War II.

The American Council on Education (ACE) was both the sponsor and publisher of the 10-volume series of the Commission. It is fitting, therefore, to note that portions of the report cited above were adapted for use in this manuscript and to thank the ACE Manager of Publications, James Murray, for permission to do so with an appropriate credit line.

Acknowledgment is due Raymond J. Connally, who served as Chief, Contracts Unit, Purchase Control Section, Procurement Branch, War Department, for his comprehensive in-depth report of all the contract relationships between the United States Government and civilian colleges and universities during World War II. Connally’s focus on the financial relationships between the military and civilian colleges remains pertinent as an important reference source in the event of another conflict with hostile nations.

The source of much useful information was the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, Olin Research Library, where Elizabeth Swaim, archivist, was most cooperative. Finally, the author is grateful that materials dealing with the Navy College Training Programs at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, were made available by Kenneth C. Cramer, archivist in Dartmouth’s Baker Library. Henry C. Herge, Sr.

Endnote:

* HERGE, HENRY C., et al. Wartime College Training Programs of the Armed Services. Washington, DC. The American Council on Education, 1947.

Dedication And In Respectful Tribute To Arthur Stanton Adams

To accomplish its purpose as an instrument of force against our enemies, the Navy has built a vast and formidable fleet. To meet the personnel needs of that new fleet, the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers) undertook the unprecedented programs of procurement, training and distribution of personnel. All three programs have kept pace with the rapid growth of the Navy’s ships and facilities to ensure a balanced development at maximum efficiency in all stages. Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, USN, Chief of Naval Personnel.

Admiral Jacobs’ statement depicted well the task faced by the Navy at the time this nation entered World War II. Certain individuals warrant attention for their leadership in fulfilling the Navy’s mission. It is appropriate to cite one officer in particular, Captain Arthur Stanton Adams, who earned the appellation, Father of the Navy’s V-12 Program, a title bestowed upon him by his Navy peers as well as by University administrators and college faculty members across the nation.

In the fall of 1942, as Admiral Jacobs indicated, the Armed Services were expanding rapidly. Although the Army, Army Air Corps, Navy and Marine Corps were training and assigning inductees for a vast array of specific duties, the manpower projections indicated the urgent need for a more systematic way to assure a flow of qualified commissioned officers.

This history of the Navy V-12 College Training Program of World War II focuses on its evolution, operation and contribution in the war effort. It narrates the Navy’s early experiences in sponsoring several programs for college students who were granted inactive duty status while they remained under instruction. These were the Navy V-1, V-5, and V-7. College students were not applying for these programs in keeping with the Navy’s expectations. Something needed to be done to bring order to what many civilian critics called a confused, unorganized state.

The Secretary of War, on September 8, 1942, took action that hastened decisions. He ruled that all students who were of Selective Service age would be summoned to active duty at the end of the semester.

It was at this juncture that the Navy searched for a person of high competency and proven ability who could plan the ways and means whereby the reservoir of trainees already enrolled in the several V-Classification programs would be salvaged and incorporated into a single, cohesive program. In the search, the Navy recalled to active duty Dr. Arthur S. Adams to be the officer-in-charge of the Administration Division of BuPers. His credentials clearly indicated his eligibility to cope with this complex situation.

Arthur Adams’ boyhood home was Winchester, Massachusetts. His Navy career began as a Midshipman in the United States Naval Academy where he acquired the nickname, Beany, possibly because he was intelligent and articulate as well as balding.

Shortly after his commissioning as an Ensign, he chose the submarine service and attended the Submarine School. In 1918, he was ordered to California, where he attached to the Mobile Submarine Division. He had intended to make the Navy his life career but he contracted tuberculosis and was retired for physical disability as a Lieutenant (j.g.) on November 25, 1921.

As a convalescent, Arthur Adams enrolled for his Master’s Degree in Physics at the University of California. He enrolled next at the Colorado School of Mines, where he earned his Ph.D. Degree in Metallurgical Engineering. Following graduation, he remained at Mines as a junior faculty member, later achieving full professor rank during his 19-year tenure. During this period, he also served as assistant to the president.

Just as the threat of war was nearing in 1940, Dr. Adams was invited by Cornell University to become Assistant Dean of Engineering. His tenure there was interrupted by the U.S. Navy.

The search committee for chief planner-administrator for the Navy’s College Training Programs spotlighted Dr. Adams. He was recalled from retirement status on November 12, 1941, and promoted from a Lieutenant (j.g.) rank to Lieutenant Commander and subsequently, in BuPers, spot promoted to Captain, USNR.

During Captain Adams’ administration, first in the Training Section and then in the Administration Division at BuPers, he exhibited outstanding leadership and wisdom in skillfully redesigning the muddled college training program.

Captain Adams’ first major test came on May 14-15 at the national conference at Columbia University, convened by the Navy, consisting of college and university representatives of 131 contract institutions and prospective commanding officers of Navy V-12 Units. In the two-day session, Captain Adams held center stage as ranking Naval officers interpreted all aspects of the new program. The most fitting of all was a statement by Captain Adams setting forth the basic principles upon which the Navy V-12 was designed.

This is in no matter of commandeering the colleges. It is in no sense a matter of dictating to the colleges, of remodeling education or, indeed, is it a matter of preserving the American tradition of education and, particularly, it is not a way of providing a grand opportunity for worthy young people to get a good education at government expense. It is none of these things. It is for the benefit of the Navy to win the war.

The program is for the needs of the Navy. It is my guess, if I am not wholly out of touch with the youth of America, that we are going to have real difficulty with some of these lads in getting them to go to college. They want to go out and shoot Japs tomorrow. So do I. However, once they are in the service, their choice in the matter will not operate to determine just what they will do, and if they have the capabilities for developing themselves into capable leaders, it is to the best interest of the Navy that they do so, and they will do so. It will be your college instructors’ high responsibility, and perhaps your grave concern, to see that their morale is held at the highest peak and that they are constantly realizing that they are not in college to benefit themselves. They are there to make themselves more useful to our very urgent needs.

Captain Adams and several officers from BuPers carefully explained the comprehensive plan, which he stated was designed cooperatively by many civilian educators and Navy training personnel. He explained in detail the method for the procurement of male candidates through a screening process approved by the ACE/Navy Advisory Council on Education and BuPers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made public announcement of the program on December 7, 1942.

In concluding the conference, Captain Adams was brilliant in summing up the salient points underscored by the speakers and in replying to a multitude of questions posed by the university administrators. His command of the situation led to spontaneous applause. The enthusiasm he engendered was expressed in terms of praise for the program’s soundness and the possibility it held for the accomplishment of the Navy’s goal for training officer candidates.

The writer attended this conference, elated to be part of the Navy’s plan, still unaware of his next assignment but ready for the challenge and grateful to Captain Adams for his vision, his tact and genteel manner in restraining a few cantankerous college administrators.

Through his calm efforts during the next three years, Captain Adams, with the cooperative assistance of numerous civilian educators and Navy personnel, trained 150,000 junior officers for the expanding Navy.

When the program terminated on June 30, 1946, Captain Adams retired again. This time, he departed BuPers with the Legion of Merit. He returned to Cornell, a layman again, this time as the University Provost. It was while in this position he accepted, in 1948, the call of the trustees of the University of New Hampshire to be its 11th president. His short-term presidency ended in 1951 when he accepted appointment to the presidency of the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington. The Council, throughout the war, was considered to be the capstone of higher education in America. Dr. Adams continued in leadership position and served with great distinction as the ACE spokesman for 11 years.

Not fully ready for retirement, Dr. Adams accepted an appointment as president of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies. He retired in 1965 and returned to Durham, New Hampshire and to the house he built on Cedar Point, Great Bay, to sail his boat, a love he acquired in his midshipman days.

Dr. Adams continued to be prominent in retirement. He became a popular commencement speaker, particularly at institutions which, in World War II, held Navy V-12 contracts. In keeping with custom, he became the recipient of honorary degrees, totaling 28 in his lifetime.

Dr. Adams died November 18, 1980, at 84 years of age. He was accorded full military honors at the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

To Arthur Stanton Adams, more than any other individual in the Navy during World War II, was due the honor and credit for blueprinting and administering the V-12 College Training Program, the most comprehensive educational undertaking in American higher education. Indeed, his skillful coordination and clear-sighted ability to anticipate potential problems endeared him to college presidents and Navy officers alike, for he was, indeed, a man for all seasons.

In tribute to him, President Leonard Carmichael of Tufts University said:

"Captain Adams was of the opinion that American colleges had heretofore overlooked the wealth of student material who, because of lack of certain 15 units, or failure to take certain prescribed courses, or because of economic and/or guidance errors were in commercial or vocational curricula, were college calibre and possessed innate ability to do superior academic work.

Experience of some men from the Fleet and Marine Corps, also, from civilian status procured for V-12 was that they possessed unusual leadership qualities and a burning desire to make good academically in spite of their shortcomings. Incentive was undoubtedly a factor but capacity, plus the willingness of faculty in tutorial help, were reasons for success.

Through the college (V-12) program, many deserving American boys were able to take advantage of training at the college level who would not have been able to do so otherwise because of financial limitations of their families."

Foreword

What A Naval Officer Should Be

It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be, as well, a gentleman of liberal education, refined manner, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.

He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, if even the reward be only one word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though, at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetency, and well-meant shortcoming from heedless or stupid blunder. As he should be universal and impartial in his rewards and approval of merit, so should he be judicial and unbending in his punishment or reproof of misconduct. John Paul Jones. From a statement to the Maritime Commission, 1775.

Prologue

The Swift Momentum of Events Leading to World War II

The typical V-12 trainee alumnus, if asked today concerning a particular on-campus event that occurred in the early 1940s while in his Apprentice Seaman’s uniform at one of the 131 contract colleges or universities, can recall quickly the time and place.

The commentary that follows will provide a record of events, both national and international, that a typical V-12 trainee alumnus may recall but vaguely, if at all.

This Navy V-12 Program history focuses on the significant events that led to the utilization of American institutions of higher learning for the specific purpose of supplying officer candidates in the several fields of specialization. It also records the rigid admission requirements, curricula leading to those specializations and the assignment of graduates to Naval Reserve Officer Candidate Schools prior to commissioning in the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

This history is intended as a tribute to the Navy V-12 Program of World War II and every trainee who became an officer. The Epilogue ends with a poetic toast to all who participated!

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a physically handicapped ex-Governor of New York, was elected President, the first of his four terms in 1932. Beginning with his inaugural ceremony, he exhibited outstanding ability in contending with difficult crises that molded U.S. history.

At the inception of his administration until his sudden death on April 12, 1945, Mr. Roosevelt was a vigorous and commanding Chief-of-State. He possessed high quality leadership ability in influencing people and a keen ability in political debates.

The President came to Washington in the wake of a national crisis - the worst in U.S. history. On his arrival, he had to cope with the devastating effects of the banking system’s collapse of October-November 1929 that was the inception of the Great Depression. A total of 5,504 banks closed, creating a shock wave felt in every town and city across the country.

The newly installed President knew that he must do something constructive and do it quickly to stem the high tide of depression, mounting unemployment and dwindling industrial production.

With his charm that brought solace to many citizens, President Roosevelt delivered a memorable New Deal inaugural address containing phrases of encouragement to dispell despair and to stimulate hope among his listeners and the unemployed. He 10 exhorted his vast audience, with typical composure, to be patient: ....the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Thus, with a new administration in power, along with the thrust he gave the banking system, private business and reemployment, Mr. Roosevelt inspired optimism.

The President’s first hundred days in office (March 6-June 16, 1933) were a period during which the Congress remained in session to work cooperatively on his carefully drafted program of relief legislation. His array of proposals gave rise to the repeated creation of new federal agencies, staffed by selected businessmen whom he trusted.

The President’s critics became vocal but his reaction, always objective, signified that businessmen possessed the skills to deal directly with industrial production. In addition, he pointed out that these persons were temporary and without federal civil service status.

Until Mr. Roosevelt’s arrival, the Congress had appeared to lack the leadership to provide measures to correct the ever-mounting problems inherent in the serious depression. Forthwith, the President addressed the sky-rocketing prices, the rationing of food supplies and scarce commodities. Of special concern to him were the poorly equipped Army and Navy and the absence of any blueprint to guide the nation if it be drawn into war.

On April 14, 1938, Mr. Roosevelt delivered to Congress more legislative proposals, which he explained in detail that same evening during his radio address to the nation. It is obvious that his public messages were productive in passage of legislation.

On June 21, 1938, the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act was enacted into law. This Act was a reversal of the administration’s deflationary policy. Surprisingly, it authorized the sharp expansion of the WPA rolls from one and a half million to three million; a three million dollar recovery and relief program; the de-sterilizing of more than three billion dollars in vaulted U.S. Treasury gold; easy reconstruction finance corporation loans; and a new policy for the Federal Reserve System authorizing a loose money policy.

Initially, the President’s foreign affairs position was strict isolationism, reflecting the wishes of a majority of voters but, later, as the war clouds abroad blackened the skies in Europe, it changed to neutrality. Soon after, however, the nation’s unpreparedness moved Mr. Roosevelt, on May 17, 1938, to sign the Naval Expansion Act that authorized a gradual enlargement of the U.S. Navy, with a marked increae in the number of capital ships and creation of a two-ocean Navy in 10 years.

Now, the frequency of the President’s fireside chats to the nation increased as he sought to calm the fear of the populace who opposed any involvement in another European war. Isolationists expressed their major concern: Will our neutrality be respected if the U.S. begins shipping needed supplies to Britain and France, and possibly to other nations?

The President, himself, soon recognized that America was vulnerable to attack inasmuch as the Atlantic Ocean could not serve as a shield to Axis’ attacks, so he sought legal measures to defend the nation. Whatever he announced, he provoked more criticism from frenzied isolationists across the country. Then, he declared publicly in another fireside chat the need to provide full aid to Britain.

Before long, the Nazi war machine began to roll as an invincible force. It began to occupy nation after nation. On March 31, 1939, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, announced in Parliament that if the German armed forces invaded Poland, then Great Britain would declare war on Germany.

With a startling swiftness, however, the Nazi air and ground forces swept across half of Poland and in rapid succession conquered the Netherland, Belgium and Luxemburg, and entered Norway on a pretense of an acute shortage of iron ore.

As the European crisis mounted, President Roosevelt declared the United States was in a state of limited neutrality. His fireside chats continued to be his most efficient means of communicating with the general public.

The tide of concern in America continued high and the courage of Mr. Roosevelt’s dedication and talent of leadership lay in his skill in stating the issues in clear phrases understood by the average man:

That was how he told the American people of his decision that aid to Britain should no longer be cash-and-carry, but should be lent or leased, that the U.S. should take over the role of arms supplier, inject itself into the war against Hitler, drop all pretense of neutrality, take the risk that Hitler would see this as a declaration of war. It was his way of selling a program that, however necessary and desirable, was totally fraudulent, as he described it. But it worked, even though Senator Taft, his voice sounding like chalk on a dry blackboard, replied immediately: ‘Lending arms is like lending chewing gum. You don’t want it back.’**

As the European crisis worsened, Mr. Roosevelt declared a state of limited neutrality for the United States. His radio speech delivery, always calm and informal, was effective in allaying fears of his countrymen. Yet, he knew only too well, as did the top officials in the War Department, that America was indeed ill-prepared to fight a war, even if attacked.

It was during this time period the Japanese military forces were waging an aggressive war campaign in Asia. They invaded and occupied vast areas of land in China and South Pacific, Thailand, Singapore, and small island nations fell before the vastly superior air and land forces of the Japanese.

In Europe, the Axis military forces swept across France to the English Channel, their primary objective, in order to split apart the military forces of England and France. Having achieved that objective, the Nazi high command then directed attention to their conquering Paris and the remainder of France.

Mr. Roosevelt, having already proclaimed the limited national emergency, then asked the Congress to repeal the arms embargo. Congressional compliance thus gave the President an incentive for creating a long list of new government agencies to stimulate private industries, banks and agriculture in mass production of much needed supplies for Allies abroad as well as for consumption here at home.

In short order, the doubtful new dealers in Congress started to voice their skepticism about the sudden mushrooming of those new agencies which Mr. Roosevelt kept establishing. In Congress, the Republican opposition also voiced concern. Why was Mr. Roosevelt recruiting personal friends, top-level executives from private corporations, to run these agencies?¹

The Washington Press Corps’ media game questioned the need for these agencies if they were being established to perform the functions that were the jurisdiction of established departments in federal government. Metropolitan newspapers also questioned his abuse of power, whether the President was engaged in becoming a dictator.²

On November 4, 1939, President Roosevelt urged Congress to repeal the Neutrality Act, and to authorize U.S. merchant ships carrying munitions into European war zones to be armed! The Congress complied with his request but, in doing so, the U.S. was, in effect, at war without a formal declaration of war.

Promptly, the Atlantic and North Sea lanes became danger zones for all U.S. shipping. The first casualties were the U.S. destroyer, Kenny, followed by the U.S. destroyer, Reuben Jones, while on convoy duty, the victims of U-boats.

By 1941, the Battle of the Atlantic intensified, with numerous sinkings. Using wolf pack tactics, Nazi Ü-boats sank a total of Allied country and U.S. ships totaling 668,000 tons.

Thus, U.S. involvement in war appeared imminent, so much so that Mr. Roosevelt began frequent conversations with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain. Their secret letters and highly classified messages were numerous. President Roosevelt had already been informed by Albert Einstein, in October 1939, of the scientific possibility of developing an atomic bomb.

The historic records now show that Dr. Albert Einstein informed Mr. Roosevelt of the A-bomb feasibility in a letter dated August 2, 1939, and that the U.S. research endeavors to do so were initiated on June 15, 1940, with the Presidential appointment of Dr. Vannevar Bush as Chair of the newly established National Defense Research Committee. Great Britain was not invited to participate in the research.

As the decade of the 1940s began abroad, the powerful Nazi Luftwaffe began its intensive air embarkment of Great Britain. Italy, now an Axis Ally of Germany, completed its invasion of Egypt and Albania, while the Nazi battle of Britain reached a climax during August, September and October 1940, as the Luftwaffe waged its all-out offensive against British land installations and its shipping, planning for an early land invasion.

On September 15, 1940, the British defenses destroyed 56 Nazi war planes. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, glowingly reported differently by his maintaining the Nazi air losses totaled 185 planes. Mr. Hitler’s plans for the land invasion of the British Isles were promptly abandoned - a major defeat for Nazi Germany.

These major events occurred prior to the re-election of President Roosevelt to his Third Term. He immediately took administrative steps after his Inaugural Ceremony to establish another agency, the Office of Production Management, to coordinate all defense efforts as well as to accelerate essential war supplies for Great Britain. With William S. Knudsen as the director of O.P.M., the United States became widely known as the Arsenal of Democracy worldwide.

The U.S. defense measures were further enhanced markedly in September, 1940 with the approval of the nation’s Selective Training and Service Act. This peacetime registration was compulsory for all males, able-bodied U.S. citizens, between the ages 21 and 25, and for their induction for military training to last one year. This registration to draft males produced an eligible roster of more than 16 million men.

United States Isolationism - Neutrality - Involvement

Perhaps the most exacting draft (Winston Churchill) ever dictated...was not a speech but a letter. The July 31, 1940, cablegram of 4,000 words addressed by Former Naval Person to President Roosevelt pleaded for destroyers. These ships, so frightfully vulnerable to air bombing, were crucially needed to prevent seaborne invasion. To Churchill, the fate of Western civilization hung on the acquisition of these destroyers. Mr. President, with great respect, I must tell you that in the long history of the world this is a thing to do now.*

Soon the resourceful Roosevelt found a way, in isolationist America, to release 50 destroyers in exchange for the United States’ use of British naval bases in the West Indies. To Churchill, it was more than destroyers that were promised - it was deliverance. The first step had been taken in the road toward U.S. involvement. Only with the total commitment of the vast American resources would the balance be tilted against the Axis powers.

Endnotes:

* James C. Humes. Churchill, Speaker of the Century. New York: Stein and Day, 1981, p. 198.

** David Brinkley, Washington Goes to War. (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1988). p. 51.

¹ Among the succession of new government agencies established were the following: Office of Production Management, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, National Recovery Administration, War Resources Board, War Manpower Administration, War Shipping Administration, Works Progress Administration, Export-Import Bank, Civil Works Administration, War Industrial Board, Farm Credit Administration, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Public Works Administration, Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation, Tennessee Valley Authority, Homeowner’s Loan Refinancing Corporation and others.

² The President’s rebuttal occurred only within a closed cabinet meeting at which he stated that Federal Department personnel were not the caliber - just not qualified to meet the complex demands a war would require.

Campus of Duke University, Marine V-12, 1943. Front L to R: Major Walter G. Cooper, USMCR and Warrant Officer Blanchard. (Courtesy of Walter G. Cooper)

A Tribute To Navy V-12 Trainees of World War II

By: Henry C. Herge, Sr.

I

All Aboard!

Yes, the Program took teenagers - poor depression-ridden kids,

Who had no college tuition, but Uncle Sam did!

Just to dream of college was much beyond belief.

Where could one get the money? One had to be a thief!

Social prestige, not a factor, for admission to good ole Yale;

One had to have the stamina and the will to prevail!

Some came from the fleet - or Marine Corps, too,

While Old Salts washed aboard straight from the briny blue!

You had to pass that very hard test,

To give you entree to the Navy’s best.

Which made your parents stand and cheer,

While you trained to become an Officer!

II

On Retention

Oh, trainee, were you enrolled fifty years ago, plus some,

Did sheer fatigue and comfort cause you to succumb,

To slumber as Reveille announced the break of day!

And you lay dreaming of———, what can I say?

Oh, demerits, demerits seemed to just come your way,

And give you restrictions, but what could you say?

Why the skipper’s reprimand made you weep

‘Cause you couldn’t help it - you did have to sleep!

Weekend shore leave for you, sheer delight,

And you hoped it would be with a Susie Bright!

As leave for you usually meant a date!

That was, of course, if you were not too late.

Math, the sciences, physics courses, all touch, you must agree;

While Warplane Recognition slides were just too quick to see

And Courts and Boards were harder than you thought,

Especially when a 4.0 was the grade you really sought!

Semester by semester and you found you still were there,

Not bilged like some lads for whom you really cared;

The question rose where you would go next,

It kept you and dear ones generally perplexed!

Then, your time to be graduated finally rolled around;

Your mom and dad came and you they found;

Your status exemplary, for they really knew,

Your plans for the future would in time come true!

III

Refrain

On leaving V-12, you went in a group

To Princeton and Colgate and Kansas and Duke;

You went a trainee to Navy’s ROTC School,

Four months more - the general rule!

When you were commissioned, you became a man.

With that stripe of an Ensign, who rightfully can

Lead men into battle, be it thick or thin,

You had strength of character and manly discipline.

Well, now war is over, but you shouldn’t forget

That your V-12 preparation was your strongest asset;

So, isn’t it fitting to at least thank your host

Who in your time of need gave you the most?

The United States Navy V-12

College Training Program!

Chronology Pathway to Global War 1932-1945

I. Focus on America 1932-1936

June 17, 1932 - Governor F.D. Roosevelt (New York) is nominated for President of U.S. by the Democratic Party at the National Convention, Chicago.

November 8, 1932 - Democrats gain majority vote and control of Congress as nation hails F.D. Roosevelt, New Deal President.

December 1932-March 1933 - U.S. in state of serious economic depression as banking system reveals huge deficits. On President’s Inaugural Day some banks close - others were tottering.

March 6, 1933 - President declares a four-day bank holiday.

March 12, 1933 - President delivers first fireside chat to nation via radio and explains legal measures being taken to stem the nation’s financial crisis and unemployment.

March 9-June 6, 1933 - President’s first one hundred days - a critical period with deep depression continuing. Congress remains in session to enact social and economic legislation proposed by the New Deal President, F.D.R. Widespread isolation sentiment among voters keeps U.S. aloof to any European involvements.

January-December 1934 - Mood of cooperation remains in Congress with passage of relief measures to combat unemployment and to stimulate nation’s economy.

April 8, 1935 - Enactment of a National Works Program that enrolls 3,400,000 persons at its peak in 1936, and 8,000,000 persons prior to its June 30, 1943 termination. WPA stood for Works Projects Administration, and NYA, National Youth Administration, which was a part of WPA, concentrated on youths (16-25) not enrolled in colleges. NYA reaches its peak in 1940 when 750,000 youths enrolled.

August 14, 1935 - The President signs the Social Security Act to provide unemployment compensation, old age security and a variety of social service benefits forthe destitute, homeless, the crippled and delinquent children.

June 9-11, 1936 - The Republican Party, in its national convention, is critical of the New Deal Administration and of the President for his usurping Congressional powers, citing FDR’s social legislation and creation of new agencies that are new government establishments. Democratic Party Convention, June 27, 1936, supports the President by heralding his courageous leadership for social reform and economic stimulation.

II. Isolation vs. Preparation 1936-1940

November 3, 1936 - In the national election, Mr. Roosevelt carries every state with an overwhelming majority (except in Maine and Vermont), giving the Democratic Party a large majority of 77-19 in the Senate and 328-107 in the House.

January 20, 1937 - President Roosevelt is applauded enthusiastically during his Inaugural Address for defending his efforts to stem the depression and increase employment.

January 3, 1938 - Mr. Roosevelt addresses Congress and reveals his deep concern about world conditions. In accenting the need for a strong defense, he also accents hemisphere solidarity.

May 17, 1938 - Naval Expansion Act passes.

June 28, 1938 - F.D.R. pressures Congress to enact armament appropriations, including $8,800,000 for anti-aircraft supplies; $6,080,000 for defense (industry) materials; and a huge appropriation for an extended program of Naval ship construction.

September 5, 1939 - President Roosevelt announces U.S. neutrality in the European War under the Neutrality Act of 1937.

September 8, 1939 - President Roosevelt proclaims a limited national emergency and, on September 21st, he asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo.

November 4, 1939 - Arms embargo is repealed and Congress authorizes the export of arms munitions to belligerent nations (allies).

June 28, 1940 - The Alien Registration Act passes Congress, giving additional strength to previous legislation governing deportation of aliens.

July 20, 1940 - Congress enacts legislation authorizing a two-ocean Navy with an appropriation totaling $4 billion for construction of capital ships and aircraft carriers.

September 17, 1940 - First peacetime Compulsory Military Service Act requires registration of all male U.S. citizens between 21-35 years to register.

November 5, 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected for his third term.

III. Neutrality vs. Involvement July 1941-August 1941

March 11, 1941 - Lend-Lease Act passes with a special provision for $7 billion in military supply credits for Great Britain. This provision is extended to Russia in November.

April 9, 1941 - Denmark and U.S. agree to U.S. occupation of Greenland for the duration, and on July 7, 1941, U.S. armed forces occupy Iceland to prevent German takeover.

May 27, 1941 - F.D.R. declares an unlimited emergency and orders the German and Italian Consulates in Washington to close. Axis powers reciprocate promptly by closing the United States Embassies.

July 24, 1941 - F.D.R. freezes all Japanese credits in the U.S., and Japan retaliates by freezing all U.S. and British funds.

July 26, 1941 - F.D.R. nationalizes the Philippines’ armed forces and places General Douglas MacArthur in command.

August 18, 1941 - U.S. Selective Service Act is amended by Congress to require all draftees to serve an additional 18 months.

IV. Hitler’s Rise To Power 1932-1945

1906-1913 -Vienna boyhood is aimless and lost as he dreams of his leadership. Deep-seated hatred of church and Jews takes form:

The ideology that gripped Hitler in his early Vienna years was Pan-Germanism, the belief that all the Germans of Europe should form one nation. Hitler detested the Hapsburg Empire, of which he was a subject, because the former rules, German though they were, had accorded political equality to the Empire’s non-Germans - Poles, Serbs, Hungarians, Italians, Slavs and Czechs - whom the German-Austrians had once dominated. Hitler nurtured an abiding hatred for the Czechs who, commercially and intellectually, were the most successful of the Empire’s minorities. When he came to inquire why the non-Germans had displaced the Germans from dominance, however, he identified none of the minorities as the villains of the piece, yet another people altogether - the JEWS!*

1914-1941 - Adolph Hitler (1889-1945). His youth and early manhood are turbulent. As a soldier in World War I, prisoner and would-be political leader, his anti-semitism is strong and vocal. He very slowly begins to gain as the obstacles to public recognition fade away and he gains stature among Storm Troopers and the Nazi Party members.

In Munich, Hitler suffers public rejection, November 9, 1933, with the Beer Hall Putsch, and his arrest and imprisonment. While in prison, Hitler pens Mein Kampf, which defines his bigoted political philosophy: the advocacy of Germany’s right to govern inferior peoples, and his hatred of the Jewish people.

In December 1924, Hitler is firmly resolved to regain political status as the recognized leader of the Nazi Party. He employs every opportunity to spread his political philosophy while he is intent on gaining partisan support in Parliament.

The severe economic depression in the United States and in Europe is the barrier to early attainment of his ambition. Unemployment and financial turmoil in Central Europe spread widely. As a result, Hitler, 1925-1930, is frustrated and spends a major portion of his time toward improving his strident oratory and skill in arousing his audience emotionally.

He begins to gain the attention of the elderly military of World War I. Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, the idol of German voters and popular President of the new Republic in the elections of 1925 and 1932, is aware of Hitler’s anti-communism stance.

January 1933 - Adolph Hitler, having won the Chancellorship, succeeds in gaining absolute dictatorial powers and the Nazification of